Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 — review
Buy the truck, not the engine lottery ticket. The Silverado 1500 is still one of the best full-size pickups you can put to work — as long as you pick your powertrain like your money depends on it, because it does.
What it is: Chevy's half-ton, fourth generation since 2019, refreshed inside and out for 2022. Four engines, three cabs, trims from work truck to $70k ZR2 — the broadest menu in the segment.
What's genuinely good starts with choice. The 2.7L TurboMax (310 hp, 430 lb-ft) is the quiet hero — owners in the FB groups and on the forums keep landing on it as the "just works" option with real-world torque that embarrasses the spec sheet. The 3.0L LZ0 Duramax diesel is the thinking man's pick: 305 hp, 495 lb-ft, and the best fuel economy in the lineup by a wide margin. The 2022 refresh fixed the old truck's worst sin — that rental-car interior — with a proper 13.4-inch screen and materials that don't feel like a penalty box. Tow ratings run to 13,300 lbs, the Multi-Flex tailgate is genuinely useful instead of gimmicky, and the aftermarket is deep enough that anything you want exists twice.
What's actually wrong is the 6.2L V8, and I need you to read this part twice. GM recalled 597,630 US trucks and SUVs in April 2025 (NHTSA 25V-274) for rod-bearing and crankshaft defects in the L87 — 28,102 field complaints, 12 crashes, 12 injuries. The fix was an inspection and either a new engine or a switch to thicker 0W-40 oil. Then engines kept failing anyway. NHTSA opened a recall query in January 2026 and upgraded it to a full engineering analysis in August 2026 after 499 complaints of failure after the recall fix — GM itself logged around 7,000 similar post-recall complaints. That investigation is open right now. A Silverado forum post titled "V8 ENGINES EXPLODING ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION" made it into a casual owner group, which tells you how far this has traveled past the enthusiast bubble. Separately, the 5.3L V8 has batchy DFM lifter failures — dealers are split between "rampant" and "change your oil," and GM confirmed the lifter problem is unrelated to the bearing recall, so that's two distinct V8 failure modes. The 10-speed automatic got recalled in November 2024 (461,839 vehicles) for a fluid leak that could lock the rear wheels; the software remedy followed, and then 1,055 trucks got recalled again in February 2026 because they received the wrong software. If you're buying used, any 2021-2024 6.2L without documented, completed recall paperwork is a hard pass — and even with the paperwork, you're buying into an open federal investigation.
The social pulse: owners love the truck and distrust the top engine, simultaneously. The FB groups are full of build threads, tow reports, and TurboMax converts, while the 6.2L threads read like a support group. The Silverado EV side of the family is its own comedy — owners passing around third-party dongles because GM deleted CarPlay, asking strangers for real -5°F winter range numbers, and debating extended warranties on used 4WTs. The EV's bones (range, ride) get praise; GM's software-first-everything approach gets the side-eye.
Value call: used 1500s run about $31,800 (2021) to $45,800 (2025) on average asking per CarGurus this month. The smart money is a 2025 with the 2.7L or the LZ0 diesel — newest calibrations, outside the recall window. A 2022-2023 refresh truck at $35k-$39k is the value slot if the service history is clean. Cross-shop the F-150 2.7L EcoBoost (no equivalent engine scandal) and the Ram 1500 with the Hurricane six (newer, watch first-year data). Skip 2021 entirely — COVID-era lifter batches and pre-refresh everything.
The tradeoff, straight: this is a great truck wearing one terrible engine option. Buy around the 6.2L and you'll wonder what the fuss was about. Buy the 6.2L and the fuss is your problem now.